Who Do You Say That I Am?
Who do others say that I am? Who do you say that I am? These are hefty questions that Jesus lays out before the disciples in today’s gospel passage. Especially so when we remember that this conversation falls between two pivotal events about truth and identity. Just prior to this passage, Jesus has just finished warning about false teachers and cautioning the disciples about too readily accepting the “yeast” of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Immediately following this passage, Jesus offers his first prediction about his own suffering and death. Questions about who the disciples—and others—think Jesus is sit heavily between these two bookends.
Today, when we think of identity and those questions of “Who am I?” so much of what we consider is internally generated and affirmed. We might say, “I am an optimist.” And those listening to us need to accept that, at least in part. There’s no way to test for whether someone is or is not an optimist. We can make the observation about whether their words and actions seem to match those of an optimist, but there’s no way to empirically prove or disprove it.
The ancient world which Jesus and his disciples inhabit is much more concerned with understanding identity through words and actions than it is self-generated statements. This does not mean the latter are unimportant or absent. After all, Jesus does claim to be the Messiah and have a Father in heaven right in today’s gospel passage. But the way others perceive him is crucial. After all, Jesus is not the only person in the world claiming to have a Father in heaven and, at this stage, the emperor in Rome has far more believers than he does.
Other people have said that Jesus is an important religious figure, maybe even a prophet or a returned hero from Judean history. Herod Antipas has said that Jesus is John the Baptist raised from the dead. It is Simon, soon to be Peter, who names Jesus out loud as the Messiah in today’s passage. Jesus immediately affirms this and describes it as knowledge that cannot have come through human means but must be a revelation from Jesus’ Father in heaven. Jesus then tells his friend that he will no longer call him Simon but Peter, a name that is a play on the Greek term for “rock”.
Next, Jesus describes the kind of church he intends to build upon a solid foundation of rock. There is significant scholarly debate over whether Simon’s new, rocky name means that he is the foundational figure upon which Jesus’ church will be built, or whether this is solely an allusion to the images of houses built on sand and rock.
Abram and Sarai, along with Jacob a couple of generations later, are prominent moments in the Old Testament when names are changed by God in relation to the founding of a new people. The gift of a new name to a leader seems, often, to signal the beginning of a new community. Additionally, Isaiah refers to Abraham and Sarah as “the rock from which you were hewn and to the quarry from which you were dug.”
The combined act of Jesus giving Simon a new name and referring to the rock upon which he will build his church suggests strongly that Jesus is planning a new community. Regardless of where one stands on the debate about what, exactly, the reference to the rock means, it seems clear that Jesus is founding a new kind of community and Peter will play an important leadership role in it.
Peter’s role, and, if we are generous, that of the other disciples who are present for this conversation, will be so important that Jesus shares with them the keys to the kingdom of heaven. The language here is nearly a copy of Isaiah’s description of the power of Eliakim over the household of David, holding keys that shut so no one can open and open so that no one can shut. At first glance this sounds like a great honour and a powerful gift to accompany Peter’s new identity. But, as is so often the case, it comes with an implicit warning. To hold authority and power over the gates of heaven is no small thing. The Bible is full of stories of those who have been given this kind of position and have misused it or chosen not to make use of it at all, whether for their own benefit or that of others.
The Book of Proverbs is an extended discussion with Holy Wisdom and the importance of her role in the life of the people of God. Those who do not heed her words consistently end up in trouble, while those who hear her remain on good paths and can help to lead others along them. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” One who is wise acts and speaks in accordance with the will of God.
The third chapter of the Letter of James is almost entirely a warning to those who have authority about its good and proper use. with a reminder that those who are trusted to teach will face stricter judgement in the end. The chapter begins with a warning to those entrusted with teaching others: “Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers and sisters, for you know that we who teach will face stricter judgment.” It goes on to describe that wisdom “from above” is evidenced in the lives of people who behave with peace, gentleness, mercy, and several other virtues, all of which are about their treatment of and example to others.
Jesus has strong opinions about those who have this kind of position and either misuse it or do not use it at all. In Luke’s gospel, Jesus speaks to legal experts, saying, “Woe to you experts in the law! For you have taken away the key of knowledge; you did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering.”
We hear Paul’s response to the Corinthians when they ask about eating meat that has been sacrificed to idols. They may know that they are simply eating meat and not honouring the idols, but what if someone who does not have the same knowledge about these matters sees them eating the meat and, as a result, believes that they may participate in the worship of idols? Paul is clear that the responsibility to act clearly and set an unambiguous example lies with those who possess knowledge, not with those who are “weak.”
From our vantage point a couple of millennia in the future, it seems that Peter and the other disciples lived up to the task that Jesus gave them in this passage. They were not perfect, not by any stretch, but in their words and actions they demonstrated holiness, the power of God to truly change lives. These followers of Christ—of every age, gender, status, and station—built up the community that Jesus founded on that solid rock. Paul tells us that the community is more than a group of people with a common interest in Jesus, but that, through baptism, we are made so close to God that we become members of the Body of Christ. This is the community that you and I have joined, or are, at the very least, curious enough about to listen to a sermon about.
Which brings us back to the very beginning. Who do others say that I am? Who do others say that we, the Church of today, are? How do our words and actions show or obscure Christ’s presence in our lives? Do others see us in the way Peter saw Jesus, for his true self? The way Herod Antipas saw Jesus, close but missing some important details? The way many of the Pharisees and Sadducees saw Jesus, as a curious, troublesome, threatening presence in their midst? In how many places where we are physically present are we not seen at all?
This is not an exhortation to a public relations exercise or reputation-building for its own sake. This is a call to honest reflection. We who have been given so much also have a responsibility to show forth in our lives what we believe in our hearts. Who do others say that we are?
